Friday, March 10, 2006

The RIAA is at it Again

Now they’re introducing the Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act. This would, as the name suggests, mandate that that all digital radios obey a broadcast flag that says what you can and cannot do with the broadcast. Right now, you can record radio broadcasts. You can do so automatically. You can do so for as long as you want. If this bill is passed, all that could change. The broadcast flag will not just prevent distributing broadcasts over the Internet; it will dictate whether or not you can record radio broadcasts at all, and for how long. In short, it would end home recording as we know it.